It’s time to become part of the solution

With the fighting over in Gaza, at least for the time being, rather than supporters of each side looking to reconciliation, the first blush of hope fades as energies turn to efforts to demonize the "other" side. "They" are evil and "we" are pure. "Their" requests/demands are unreasonable and "ours" are just. "They" must demonstrate contrition. The "discussions" are truly amazing. "You did this. Yes but because you did that. Yes we did that but only because you did . . .." in an endless regression. And the Christian communities living in the Holy Land are caught in the middle.

Christians have a large stake in seeing this madness end.The fact is until both sides learn that both sides are right and both sides are wrong, until they become less concerned with claiming victory and trying to assign blame and until we all learn to focus on how things can be made better for everyone (even before deciding who "wins"), those living in the Holy Land in general, and the Christian communities living there in particular, will suffer.

They say those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. But perhaps it is more correct to say that about those who remember it too well.

What can you do about all this? First of all you can refuse to participate in "blame games" and urge people to focus on the future and not the past. You can learn about the plight of Christian communities in the Holy Land and then find ways in which you can engage with them and support their efforts to make lives better for Christians living in the Holy Land. Start by visiting www.UnitedChristianCommunities.org